A few months ago I installed Fedora Core 2. Everything was fine up until recently. I think the computer was using the automatic updater included w/ FC2 when it "froze" (ended up just sitting there for a while), so I had to do a hard reboot. Ever since then, I haven't actually been able to get Linux up and running completely. When it goes through the startup sequence, it looks as if it is doing some kind of file system check due to not shutting down properly. However, it *does* end up getting into X Windows KDE (or whatever it is), but then I can't do anything. All the applications that were up when I originally had to hard reboot it are still up, it is just that everything is frozen. Well, not everything. I can move the mouse around, and the clock in the bottom right hand of the screen appears to work. I just can't click anything.

So I'm stuck with a Linux install that doesn't work. Now with Windows it'd be easy.. I could do a simple CTRL+ALT+DEL and kill the offending process, or reboot into safemode and fix whatever is wrong. But in Linux, I have no idea what I am supposed to do. There isn't a CTRL+ALT+DEL in Linux that I know of. In fact, I don't even know how to get to a failsafe command line... I didn't see any option for that when it was starting up. So first of all, what kind of problem might this be, and secondly, how might I go about fixing it?

Reinstall and next time don't use the rhn update tool. It sucks for personal pc's. Guess it works for sys admins on big netwerks with lots of rh boxes and a redhat linux enterprise box sitting in the middle. But it never worked for me. So use yum or apt rpm instead to update your box. You also might want to try knocking your runlevel down to 3 so that the gui won't cause you any problems. Check /etc/inittab for more info on that.

lol, I love how people always tote Linux as the stable OS and so on, yet it can't handle it when it is not properly shutdown and has to be reinstalled as soon as the first problem occurs. I also love how I'm not supposed to use the included programs/tools that come with a Linux distro b/c they evidently "suck," even though they come w/ the OS. (Not complaining about your feedback jev-bird, I thank you for that, just complaining about the general state of Linux :P)

It is not about handling improper shutdown's , there have been instances when I had to improperly shutdown my system [***not anywhere close to windows, when even after CTRL+ALT+DEL nothing would happen** ], but it would be up and running like a charm.

I think something really went bad during your update [messed up core libraries or something like that], If you could only furnish more details as to what you were upgrading.

Every Linux user has faced some or the other problem, but we all share experiences as to how to go about solving it.I dont know for how long you've used Linux , but as you get comfortable with it ..the more you'll love it. And it's worth every bit to have Linux coz it does what you want it to,and customizable to suit your needs.This is my point of view.

I respect your opinion, but please dont rush to conclusions and comparisons.

another thing you should realize is that Fedora is just a testing bed for Red Hat Enterprise, but I'm sure you saw that more than a few times in your distrobution research before settling on Fedora.